Former President Donald Trump has warned that the Chinese regime will invade Taiwan after seeing Russian troops move into Ukraine.
Such an invasion against self-governing Taiwan will occur because Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are an example of “twin sisters,” Trump said during an interview on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show on Feb. 22.
“China is gonna be next,” Trump said. “Absolutely. Not with me, they wouldn’t have.”
“They’re waiting ’til after the Olympics. Now the Olympics ended, and look at your stopwatch, right? No, he wants that just like … It’s almost like twin sisters right here,” he added.
“Because you have one that wants Taiwan, I think, equally badly,” Trump added. “Somebody said, ‘Who wants it more?’ I think probably equally badly.”
He suggested that neither Putin nor Xi would make a move if he were the president.
“Putin would have never done it, and Xi would have never done it,” the former president said.
Putin and Xi met in China earlier this month. After their meeting, they released a lengthy statement, claiming that the two bordering nations enjoy strong ties in which there would be “no limits” in their partnership and “no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.”
Xi—who is likely to be handed an unprecedented third term in office at an important Chinese Communist Party meeting later this year—vowed in October that “reunification” of Taiwan with China would “definitely be realized.”
On Feb. 23, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen ordered the island’s national security agencies and military forces to “ramp up their efforts to monitor and provide early warning of military developments in the Taiwan Strait and surrounding areas,” following a high-level national security meeting on developments in Ukraine.
China and Taiwan are separated by the Taiwan Strait, which is about 80 miles wide at its narrowest point.
The Chinese regime sees Taiwan as part of its territory that must be united with the mainland, by force if necessary. However, Taiwan is a de facto independent country, where Taiwanese people elect their own government officials through democratic elections.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) also saw a connection between Ukraine and Taiwan, while speaking to ABC earlier this month.
“Xi is watching what is happening [in Ukraine], our adversaries are watching,” McCaul said. “If Putin can go into Ukraine with no resistance, certainly, Xi will take Taiwan. He’s always wanted this.”
By Frank Fang
